


The recreation room

by jadziajan



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 11:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15605280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadziajan/pseuds/jadziajan
Summary: She doesn't love the recreation room, but today, she feels that she had no choice but to come here.





	The recreation room

The recreation room, that is what they call it - she finds it rather sordid, as the idea of finding anything amusing inside this academy of despair upsets her to no end. Oh, Sakura certainly has not been endlessly crying since everyone’s arrival, but this strength she did not find within herself. She has her classmates to thank for it – those who have survived so far, that is, though she tells herself more often than not that Maizono’s, Enoshima’s, Kuwata’s, Fujisaki’s and Oowada’s deaths were not a matter of weakness, but rather of misplaced strength. Still, she is thankful for everyone’s hopeful words, and for every cheerful conversation she has heard since the beginning of this madness, as she finds herself thinking that behind her ridiculously strong body, she has been the weakest out of everyone here.  
It is rare for her to be alone as she is now, and in no way would that make her complain. If amusement seems out of her reach, still she feels relieved and – ever so rarely – happy to be surrounded by her strong and talented classmates at all times, especially, if she may rightfully say so, her sweet friend Asahina, whose company has been of the most agreeable; however, she could not help but feel compelled to give herself some alone time. Everything has been going so fast, it feels, and Sakura wonders if she has really given herself the time to assess her own weakness and feelings of guiltiness. Shock, anger, despair is all it has been, at almost every single moment that has not been her classmates trying to reassure each other and themselves. Truly, their enemy has already succeeded; despair, despair is all she feels, when she thinks about herself, and when she cannot help but tell herself that she has been borrowing all of her so-called strength from classmates she has been estranged from. Weak she is indeed, and hope she fails to find anymore – but she refuses to give up, and that is why she has decided to visit the horrid recreation room today.  
It would be silly of her to try and play with anything that is left to her disposition in a room the color of her feelings, and fully aware that the only smiles she has managed so far and will manage until the end of it all have tasted of bitterness, her objective is nothing of the sort. She is solely interested in the magazines shelf, to which she had earlier given no attention.  
She would not blame herself for turning her head whenever she sees it, as multiple of their covers sport the beautiful, highly modified face of their deceased classmate, the world-famous Junko Enoshima. She even suspects she is not the only one, as since they have uncovered the recreation room, no mention of the magazines has even been made. The idea that some wicked mastermind has purposefully placed them here renders her sick, and she tries to ignore it as she picks one up.  
Entertainment – everything she glances at has been written or placed on the page for the purpose of entertainment, and it saddens her to know that given her situation, she cannot dare to seek it anymore. She clenches her teeth, however, and keeps searching, as she has another specific objective in mind. She finds no luck in the first magazine, and takes another one, which in turn she adamantly searches, hoping to find a photography, but still reading everything resembling a name her eyes fall upon, just in case, as they say, because she has been feeling so despaired that even the smallest ray of hope – the only hope she can think of anymore – would satisfy her. She glances, and reads, and glances, and reads…  
One of these bitter smiles it is again. This one, though, tastes a little of something sweet – maybe is it simply the relieving feeling of all the muscles in her body relaxing when she stumbles upon more than she could even have been hoping for. She lets out a sigh as she stares at the illustration of the spread titled “The Strongest Man in The World”… Then closes her eyes, as the photography engraves itself in her retinas.  
Silly she was, to imagine that in Hope’s Peak Academy, of all academies, there would not be a magazine mentioning one of the most amazing people on planet Earth. Now that she has seen one article, she is persuaded that were she to search all of the magazines on the shelf, she would find multiple others. The contraction on her face, around her mouth, feels awkward as she dreamily stares into the eyes of the one she loves – the one she looks up to the most – the strongest man on earth – this must be what a real smile feels like.  
Sakura is suddenly brought back to reality by the sensation and sound of the first magazine she had hastily put back on the shelf falling over on her foot, and her face immediately finds its usual worried expression again. Could it be that she has been frowning so much, that it is now naturally shaped this way? Smiling felt so strange, she almost finds comfort in her sullen expression. She has an idea that maybe her face solely feels right when it mirrors her soul; at no point would she doubt that she forced this impression of happiness onto herself, and that nothing else should occupy her mind than guilt and despair.  
Those emotions she cannot help but feel, and they quickly fill her mind again – oh Kenshiro, Kenshiro, what would the strongest man on Earth do? Oh, Kenshiro, would you be able to defend yourself, were I to try to protect my new friends?


End file.
